My husband and I are planning to acquire a house in Gloucestershire and have appointed a Gloucestershire conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Ireland have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Gloucestershire solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Gloucestershire lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

I purchased a freehold residence in Gloucestershire but nevertheless pay rent, why is this and what is this?

It is rare for properties in Gloucestershire and has limited impact for conveyancing in Gloucestershire but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.

Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges have existed for many centuries, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the establishment of new rentcharges post 1977.

Previous rentcharges can now be redeemed by making a lump sum payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence after 2037 is to be extinguished.

I have been told that property searches are the primary cause of delay in Gloucestershire conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure amongst the most frequent causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Searches are unlikely to feature in any delay in conveyancing in Gloucestershire.

I opted to have a survey done on a house in Gloucestershire before retaining conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. Our surveyor has said that some mortgage companies tend refuse to give a mortgage on such a premises.

It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different instructions for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to call us we can check with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Gloucestershire. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Gloucestershire especially if they regularly deal with such properties in Gloucestershire.

I am looking into buying my first house which is in Gloucestershire and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Gloucestershire. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Gloucestershire area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?

Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Gloucestershire. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found